Gary put his finishing touches on Mark, signed and dated it, and it is ready to be molded. To make the molds and the casting process easier, Sam cuts parts of the sculpture off with a saws-all. These pieces are set onto turntables and rubber will be applied. Metal shims are stuck into the clay, which are used to separate the different sections of the mold.
This, my latest, was created for the inspiration and enjoyment of kids. Those mystical and magical symbols of wisdom, long life, and happiness have forever fascinated children of all ages. This particular dragon willingly shares his treasures of knowledge- his collections of anthologies and wisdom of the ages with his young admirers. He even provides a quick seat with his tail as he looks forward to a cozy read with his friends. Come and join in the storytelling!
Dan has done a fantastic job, as usual, getting the sculpture pointed up. He will make just a few more adjustments then turn it over to me so I can put my finishing touches on it. Look at what a great job Dan has done- compare these pictures to the maquette and the previous pictures on the blog. Please let me know your thoughts!
We’ve all done it- either been the twirled or the twirler. Remember the rush, the balance, and finally trying to stay upright after the dizziness. I think most of all we remember the laughing and the pure fun as the world continues to spin while we’ve stopped.
Dan has been on fire the last 48 hours! He trimmed the blue foam down to the right dimensions; cutting and shaping it, getting it as close to the shape of the sculpture as possible. 
As we said, we want to show the process of creating a life-size sculpture. After creating the maquette, an armature is created and welded together. It will serve as a skeleton for support. My assistant , Dan, now ads foam to build up bulk that the clay will be applied to. Here is what he just finished today. Read the rest of this entry »
Someone once asked me in the studio as they were looking at one of my clay sculptures that took hundreds of hours to create, “How long did it take you to create that?” As I was trying to count up the approximate hours, my assistant, Dan Hildreth, facetiously commented, “It took his whole life to create that.” Then we got into a little discussion Read the rest of this entry »
As I stand here in my creative chamber, “the studio”, and look around at recent projects, ones in the making and future ideas that are just vague shapes of clay- it’s quite exciting! There’s lots of energy in here that is very tangible and through a very real transference process; that creative energy that has gone into the forming of the clay ends up in the finished bronze sculpture that you, my revered collector ends up with! Read the rest of this entry »
